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Virology

Southampton specialist virology centre (SSVC)

Laboratory tel: 023 8120 6408

Website: bit.ly/UHSvirology

Hospital location: B level, laboratory and pathology block, University Hospital Southampton

Address: Southampton specialist virology centre, Level B, laboratory & pathology block, University Hospital Southampton, Tremona Road, Southampton, Hampshire, SO16 6YD

Content

  • Staff including contact details
  • Respiratory virus PCR sample collection including for SARS coronavirus-2 (the causative agent of COVID-19)
  • Combined Nose and Throat swabs for Respiratory Virus PCR including SARS-CoV-2 poster: 29/05/20
  • SARS-CoV-2 testing expected turn around time and contact details
  • Change of Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea testing
  • Scientific publications by Southampton Specialist Virology Centre staff

Southampton Specialist Virology Centre staff
 Name/position Telephone  Email 
 

Dr Emanuela Pelosi

Consultant medical virologist / Director of the SSVC

 

023 8120 5101

 

Emanuela.Pelosi@uhs.nhs.uk
 

Dr Eleri Wilson-Davies

Consultant medical virologist

  

023 8120 1379

 

Eleri.Wilson-Davies@uhs.nhs.uk
 

Emma Andrews

Virology operations manager

 

023 8120 6408

 

Emma.Andrews@uhs.nhs.uk
 

Dr Simon Friar

Clinical scientist / SSVC development lead

 

023 8120 6408

 

Simon.Friar@uhs.nhs.uk
 

Christopher Labdon

Lead biomedical scientist in serology

 

023 8120 6408

  

Christopher.Labdon@uhs.nhs.uk

Nicola White

Lead biomedical scientist in Molecular

 

023 8120 6408

 

Nicola.White@uhs.nhs.uk

 

Respiratory virus PCR sample collection including SARS-coronavirus-2 (the causative agent of COVID-19)

Change of collection media for Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea testing

The Southampton Specialist Virology Centre now only accepts Chlamydia/Gonorrhoea samples in the Alinity m multi-Collect Specimen Collection kit. We no longer accept Hologic Aptima samples.

If you have any questions regarding the transition, please don't hesitate to contact us. All of the telephone and email details can be found at the top of this page.

Virology tubes example

Scientific publications by Southampton Specialist Virology Centre staff

 

  1. Boshier FAT, Venturini C, Stirrup O, Guerra-Assunção JA, Alcolea-Medina A, Becket AH, Byott M, Charalampous T, Filipe ADS, Frampton D, Glaysher S, Khan T, Kulasegara-Shylini R, Kele B, Monahan IM, Mollett G, Parker M, Pelosi E, Randell P, Roy S, Taylor JF, Weller SJ, Wilson-Davies E, Wade P, Williams R, Copas AJ, Cutino-Moguel T, Freemantle N, Hayward AC, Holmes A, Hughes J, Mahungu TW, Nebbia G, Nastouli E, Partridge DG, Pope CF, Price JR, Robson SC, Saeed K, Shin GY, de Silva TI, Snell LB, Thomson EC, Witney AA, Breuer J; COG-UK HOCI Variant Substudy consortium*, The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium. The Alpha variant was not associated with excess nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 infection in a multi-centre UK hospital study. J Infect. 2021 Dec;83(6):693-700. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2021.09.022. Epub 2021 Oct 2.

 

  1. Pearce J, Friar S, Jigoulina G, Bate J. SARS CoV-2 Antibody Persistence During Induction Chemotherapy for Pediatric T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2021 Nov 1;43(8):e1258-e1259. doi: 10.1097/MPH.0000000000002182.

 

  1. Mahanama A, Wilson-Davies E. Insight into PCR testing for surgeons. Surgery (Oxf). 2021 Nov;39(11):759-768. doi: 10.1016/j.mpsur.2021.09.016. Epub 2021 Oct 25.

 

  1. Odeleye E, Friar S, Bate J. Successful Implementation of Routine SARS-CoV-2 Screening in Children With Cancer and Their Parents During the Pandemic in the United Kingdom. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2021 Oct 1;43(7):e1046-e1047. doi: 10.1097/MPH.0000000000002145.

 

  1. Stirrup O, Boshier F, Venturini C, Guerra-Assunção JA, Alcolea-Medina A, Beckett A, Charalampous T, da Silva Filipe A, Glaysher S, Khan T, Kulasegaran Shylini R, Kele B, Monahan I, Mollett G, Parker M, Pelosi E, Randell P, Roy S, Taylor J, Weller S, Wilson-Davies E, Wade P, Williams R; COG-UK-HOCI Variant substudy consortium; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium, Copas A, Cutino-Moguel MT, Freemantle N, Hayward AC, Holmes A, Hughes J, Mahungu T, Nebbia G, Partridge D, Pope C, Price J, Robson S, Saeed K, de Silva T, Snell L, Thomson E, Witney AA, Breuer J. SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 is associated with greater disease severity among hospitalised women but not men: multicentre cohort study. BMJ Open Respir Res. 2021 Sep;8(1):e001029. doi: 10.1136/bmjresp-2021-001029.

 

  1. Saeed K, Pelosi E, Mahobia N, White N, Labdon C, Ahmad-Saeed N, Grieves A, Johnstone P, Higgs D, Jeramiah S, Dailly S, Henderson T, Stringfellow M, Wilson-Davies E, Grundy P. Investigations, actions and learning from an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers in the United Kingdom. J Infect Prev. 2021 Jul;22(4):156-161. doi: 10.1177/1757177420976798. Epub 2020 Dec 14.

 

  1. Edmunds M, Mearkle R, Folliard J, Anderson C, Balasegaram S, Chandra N, Sawyer C, Fry NK, Ribeiro S, Palmer G, Morgan M, Underhill G, Ahmad N, Friar S, Charlett A, Litt D, Brown CS, Amirthalingam G. Retrospective cohort study investigating extent of pertussis transmission during a boarding school outbreak, England, December 2017 to June 2018. Euro Surveill. 2021 Jul;26(26):1900736. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.26.1900736.

 

  1. Gökengin D, Wilson-Davies E, Nazlı Zeka A, Palfreeman A, Begovac J, Dedes N, Tarashenko O, Stevanovic M, Patel R. 2021 European guideline on HIV testing in genito-urinary medicine settings. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2021 May;35(5):1043-1057. doi: 10.1111/jdv.17139. Epub 2021 Mar 5.

 

  1. Iro MA, Umpleby H, Pelosi E. Clinician guide to COVID-19 diagnostics. Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed. 2021 Mar 18:edpract-2020-321272. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2020-

  1. Wilson-Davies ESW, Mahanama AIK, Samaraweera B, Ahmed N, Friar S, Pelosi E. Concerning the OptiGene Direct LAMP assay, and it’s use in at-risk groups and hospital staff. J Infect. 2021 Feb;82(2):282-327. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2021.01.013. Epub 2021 Feb 8.

 

  1. Ankcorn M, Said B, Morgan D, Elsharkawy AM, Maggs J, Ryder S, Valliani T, Gordon F, Abeysekera K, Suri D, McPherson S, Galliford J, Smith B, Pelosi E, Bansal S, Bethune C, Sheridan D, Vine L, Tedder RS, Ijaz S; enhanced persistent HEV surveillance group. Persistent Hepatitis E virus infection across England and Wales 2009-2017: Demography, virology and outcomes. J Viral Hepat. 2021 Feb;28(2):420-430. doi: 10.1111/jvh.13424. Epub 2020 Nov 2.

 

  1. Kusnadi A, Ramírez-Suástegui C, Fajardo V, Chee SJ, Meckiff BJ, Simon H, Pelosi E, Seumois G, Ay F, Vijayanand P, Ottensmeier CH. Severely ill COVID-19 patients display impaired exhaustion features in SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD8+ T cells. Sci Immunol. 2021 Jan 21;6(55):eabe4782. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abe4782.

 

  1. Meckiff BJ, Ramírez-Suástegui C, Fajardo V, Chee SJ, Kusnadi A, Simon H, Eschweiler S, Grifoni A, Pelosi E, Weiskopf D, Sette A, Ay F, Seumois G, Ottensmeier CH, Vijayanand P. Imbalance of Regulatory and Cytotoxic SARS-CoV-2-Reactive CD4+ T Cells in COVID-19. Cell. 2020 Nov 25;183(5):1340-1353.e16. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.001. Epub 2020 Oct 5.

 

  1. Bosworth A, Atabani SF, Theodosiou A, Shahi A, Peate T, Wilson S, Pelosi E, Rosser A. Letermovir salvage therapy in the management of a case of cytomegalovirus ventriculitis complicated by drug resistance, Clinical Infection in Practice, Volumes 7–8, 2020, 100039

 

  1. Kusnadi A, Ramírez-Suástegui C, Fajardo V, Chee SJ, Meckiff BJ, Simon H, Pelosi E, Seumois G, Ay F, Vijayanand P, Ottensmeier CH. Severely ill COVID-19 patients display augmented functional properties in SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD8 + T cells. bioRxiv. 2020 Jul 10:2020.07.09.194027. doi: 10.1101/2020.07.09.194027. Preprint.

 

  1. Meckiff BJ, Ramírez-Suástegui C, Fajardo V, Chee SJ, Kusnadi A, Simon H, Grifoni A, Pelosi E, Weiskopf D, Sette A, Ay F, Seumois G, Ottensmeier CH, Vijayanand P. Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Reactive CD4 + T Cells. SSRN. 2020 Jul 7:3641939. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3641939. Preprint.

 

  1. Nicholas N, Mansbridge C, Pelosi E, Wilson-Davies E. Primary Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Infection Associated With Monoarthritis of the Knee. Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice. 29.06.2020

 

  1. Jerome H, Taylor C, Sreenu VB, Klymenko T, Filipe ADS, Jackson C, Davis C, Ashraf S, Wilson-Davies E, Jesudason N, Devine K, Harder L, Aitken C, Gunson R, Thomson EC. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing aids the diagnosis of viral infections in febrile returning travellers. J Infect. 2019 Oct;79(4):383-388. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2019.08.003. Epub 2019 Aug 6.

 

  1. Deall H, Faust SN, Pelosi E, Fairhurst J, Elliott K, Patel S. Congenital syphilis presenting with liver lesions. Int J STD AIDS. 2018 Aug 16:956462418779311.
  2. Shorten RJ, Wilson-Davies E. The risk of transmission of a viral haemorrhagic fever infection in a United Kingdom laboratory. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 May 18;11(5):e0005358. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005358. eCollection 2017 May.

 

  1. Varatharaj A, Nicoll JA, Pelosi E, Pinto AA. Corticosteroid-responsive focal granulomatous herpes simplex type-1 encephalitis in adults. Pract Neurol. 2017 Apr;17(2):140-144. doi: 10.1136/practneurol-2016-001474. Epub 2017 Feb 2.

 

  1. de Graaf H, Pelosi E, Cooper A, Pappachan J, Sykes K, MacIntosh I, Gbesemete D, Clark TW, Patel SV, Faust SN, Tebruegge M. Severe Enterovirus Infections in Hospitalized Children in the South of England: Clinical Phenotypes and Causative Genotypes. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2016 Jul;35(7):723-7. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000001093.

 

  1. Iro M, Tebruegge M, Pelosi E, Faust S, Patel S. Empirical aciclovir in the management of febrile neonates. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2015;100:A127.

 

  1. Eyre TA, Pelosi E, McQuaid S, Richardson D, Newman J, Hill K, Veys P, Davies G, Orchard KH. Mumps virus encephalomyelitis in a 19-year old male patient with an undefined severe combined immunodeficiency post-haematopoietic bone marrow transplantation: a rare fatal complication. J Clin Virol. 2013 Jun;57(2):165-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2013.02.003. Epub 2013 Feb 26.

 

  1. Saeed K, Pelosi E. Comparison between turnaround time and cost of herpes simplex virus testing by cell culture and polymerase chain reaction from genital swabs. Int J STD AIDS. 2010 Apr;21(4):298-9. doi: 10.1258/ijsa.2009.009006.

 

  1. De Silva AN, Muddu AK, Iredale JP, Sheron N, Khakoo SI, Pelosi E. Unexpectedly high incidence of indigenous acute hepatitis E within South Hampshire: time for routine testing? J Med Virol. 2008 Feb;80(2):283-8. doi: 10.1002/jmv.21062.

 

  1. Pelosi E, Clarke I. Hepatitis E: a complex and global disease. Emerg Health Threats J. 2008;1:e8. doi: 10.3134/ehtj.08.008. Epub 2008 Nov 7.

 

 

Publications by the Southampton Specialist Virology Centre as part of the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium:

 

  1. Twohig KA, Nyberg T, Zaidi A, Thelwall S, Sinnathamby MA, Aliabadi S, Seaman SR, Harris RJ, Hope R, Lopez-Bernal J, Gallagher E, Charlett A, De Angelis D, Presanis AM, Dabrera G; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium. Hospital admission and emergency care attendance risk for SARS-CoV-2 delta (B.1.617.2) compared with alpha (B.1.1.7) variants of concern: a cohort study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022 Jan;22(1):35-42. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00475-8. Epub 2021 Aug 27.

 

  1. Vöhringer HS, Sanderson T, Sinnott M, De Maio N, Nguyen T, Goater R, Schwach F, Harrison I, Hellewell J, Ariani CV, Gonçalves S, Jackson DK, Johnston I, Jung AW, Saint C, Sillitoe J, Suciu M, Goldman N, Panovska-Griffiths J; Wellcome Sanger Institute COVID-19 Surveillance Team; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium*, Birney E, Volz E, Funk S, Kwiatkowski D, Chand M, Martincorena I, Barrett JC, Gerstung M. Genomic reconstruction of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in England. Nature. 2021 Dec;600(7889):506-511. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04069-y. Epub 2021 Oct 14.

 

  1. de Silva TI, Liu G, Lindsey BB, Dong D, Moore SC, Hsu NS, Shah D, Wellington D, Mentzer AJ, Angyal A, Brown R, Parker MD, Ying Z, Yao X, Turtle L, Dunachie S; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, Maini MK, Ogg G, Knight JC; ISARIC4C Investigators, Peng Y, Rowland-Jones SL, Dong T. The impact of viral mutations on recognition by SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells. iScience. 2021 Nov 19;24(11):103353. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103353. Epub 2021 Oct 28.

 

  1. Meng B, Kemp SA, Papa G, Datir R, Ferreira IATM, Marelli S, Harvey WT, Lytras S, Mohamed A, Gallo G, Thakur N, Collier DA, Mlcochova P; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, Duncan LM, Carabelli AM, Kenyon JC, Lever AM, De Marco A, Saliba C, Culap K, Cameroni E, Matheson NJ, Piccoli L, Corti D, James LC, Robertson DL, Bailey D, Gupta RK. Recurrent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 spike deletion H69/V70 and its role in the Alpha variant B.1.1.7. Cell Rep. 2021 Jun 29;35(13):109292. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109292. Epub 2021 Jun 8.

 

  1. Collier DA, De Marco A, Ferreira IATM, Meng B, Datir RP, Walls AC, Kemp SA, Bassi J, Pinto D, Silacci-Fregni C, Bianchi S, Tortorici MA, Bowen J, Culap K, Jaconi S, Cameroni E, Snell G, Pizzuto MS, Pellanda AF, Garzoni C, Riva A; CITIID-NIHR BioResource COVID-19 Collaboration, Elmer A, Kingston N, Graves B, McCoy LE, Smith KGC, Bradley JR, Temperton N, Ceron-Gutierrez L, Barcenas-Morales G; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, Harvey W, Virgin HW, Lanzavecchia A, Piccoli L, Doffinger R, Wills M, Veesler D, Corti D, Gupta RK. Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 to mRNA vaccine-elicited antibodies. Nature. 2021 May;593(7857):136-141. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03412-7. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

 

  1. Volz E, Mishra S, Chand M, Barrett JC, Johnson R, Geidelberg L, Hinsley WR, Laydon DJ, Dabrera G, O'Toole Á, Amato R, Ragonnet-Cronin M, Harrison I, Jackson B, Ariani CV, Boyd O, Loman NJ, McCrone JT, Gonçalves S, Jorgensen D, Myers R, Hill V, Jackson DK, Gaythorpe K, Groves N, Sillitoe J, Kwiatkowski DP; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium, Flaxman S, Ratmann O, Bhatt S, Hopkins S, Gandy A, Rambaut A, Ferguson NM. Assessing transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 in England. Nature. 2021 May;593(7858):266-269. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03470-x. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

 

  1. Graham MS, Sudre CH, May A, Antonelli M, Murray B, Varsavsky T, Kläser K, Canas LS, Molteni E, Modat M, Drew DA, Nguyen LH, Polidori L, Selvachandran S, Hu C, Capdevila J; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, Hammers A, Chan AT, Wolf J, Spector TD, Steves CJ, Ourselin S. Changes in symptomatology, reinfection, and transmissibility associated with the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7: an ecological study. Lancet Public Health. 2021 May;6(5):e335-e345. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00055-4. Epub 2021

 

  1. Kemp SA, Collier DA, Datir RP, Ferreira IATM, Gayed S, Jahun A, Hosmillo M, Rees-Spear C, Mlcochova P, Lumb IU, Roberts DJ, Chandra A, Temperton N; CITIID-NIHR BioResource COVID-19 Collaboration; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, Sharrocks K, Blane E, Modis Y, Leigh KE, Briggs JAG, van Gils MJ, Smith KGC, Bradley JR, Smith C, Doffinger R, Ceron-Gutierrez L, Barcenas-Morales G, Pollock DD, Goldstein RA, Smielewska A, Skittrall JP, Gouliouris T, Goodfellow IG, Gkrania-Klotsas E, Illingworth CJR, McCoy LE, Gupta RK. SARS-CoV-2 evolution during treatment of chronic infection. Nature. 2021 Apr;592(7853):277-282. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03291-y. Epub 2021 Feb 5.

 

 

 

Publications by the Southampton Specialist Virology Centre as part of the SIREN Study Group:

 

  1. Hall VJ, Foulkes S, Saei A, Andrews N, Oguti B, Charlett A, Wellington E, Stowe J, Gillson N, Atti A, Islam J, Karagiannis I, Munro K, Khawam J, Chand MA, Brown CS, Ramsay M, Lopez-Bernal J, Hopkins S; SIREN Study Group. COVID-19 vaccine coverage in health-care workers in England and effectiveness of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine against infection (SIREN): a prospective, multicentre, cohort study. Lancet. 2021 May 8;397(10286):1725-1735. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00790-X. Epub 2021 Apr 23.

 

  1. Hall VJ, Foulkes S, Charlett A, Atti A, Monk EJM, Simmons R, Wellington E, Cole MJ, Saei A, Oguti B, Munro K, Wallace S, Kirwan PD, Shrotri M, Vusirikala A, Rokadiya S, Kall M, Zambon M, Ramsay M, Brooks T, Brown CS, Chand MA, Hopkins S; SIREN Study Group. SARS-CoV-2 infection rates of antibody-positive compared with antibody-negative health-care workers in England: a large, multicentre, prospective cohort study (SIREN). Lancet. 2021 Apr 17;397(10283):1459-1469. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00675-9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.